A Short History of the Dredging of the Brisbane River, 1860 to 1910

137 A SHORT HISTORY OF THE DREDGING OF THE BRISBANE RIVER, 1860 TO 1910 by G. R. C. McLEOD In 1823, when Lieutenant John Oxley, R.N., Surveyor General of New South Wales, was sent by Governor Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, in H.M. cutter Mermaid, to survey Port Curtis, Port Bowen and Moreton Bay as possible sites for convict settlements, the Brisbane River was unaffected by man. Its channel and bar were as nature had made them. Oxley found, in the area of Point Skirmish on Bribie Island, a man named Thomas Pamphlett. He and two companions, Richard Parsons and John Finigan (a fourth man did not sur vive), had been cast away on Moreton Island after being lost in a gale off Sydney Heads. In their wanderings they had come upon a river emptying into Moreton Bay. Oxley took a boat and on Tuesday 2 December 1823, entered the mouth of what he later named the Brisbane River. In September of 1824, Oxley in company with Allan Cun ningham, then the King's Botanist in New South Wales, further explored the river. They described the bed of the river as mostly sand and shingle. Various shoals were noted. The depth of water on the river bar was about 5 feet at low water, with a tidal rise of about 7 feet giving a total depth at high tide of 12 feet. There were two bars, the outer one a wide bar of sand, shell and some mud, a mile out to sea from what is now called Luggage Point stietching north easterly, the inner one running from Luggage Point in a north easterly direction also. Inside the bars, there was deep water of about 24 feet until a rocky area at Lytton was reached. Further upsfream were flats, called the Eagle Farm and Upper Flats, in the Pinkenba-Colmslie area. Above here the water was deep and clear as far as Seventeen-mile Rocks. Above the rocks were shoals and banks until the confluence of the Brisbane and Dr. Roderick McLeod is a Vice-President of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, and President of the Queensland Maritime Museum Association. 138 Bremer Rivers was reached. The Brisbane River above the junc tion was too shallow for useful navigation. In the Bremer were snags and rocks, and a shallow channel up to the later site of Ipswich. Any major changes which had taken place in the river chan nels prior to settlement were effected by the periodical floods. Once settlement began, and especially timber felling, farming and sheep grazing by the upper reaches of the river, erosion commenced and the floods carried top soil down the river. Mud and silt were deposited on the previously sandy banks and in the channels. As years passed this became a very important factor, but in the early history of the settlement it had little effect The shallowness of the bar prevented reasonable movement of larger coastal and deep-sea craft except at the peak of high water, and when they entered the river they were prevented from reaching the site of the town by the Pelican Rock barrier at Lyt ton, and higher up by the Eagle Farm Flats, or the Lower and Upper Flats. Consequently as the trade to the new settlement increased, special arrangements for incoming and outgoing cargoes had to be made. The initial development of the river was limited to finding a channel to cross the bar, and removal of snags in the upper reaches. Some of the coastal steamers came up the river to Brisbane, while others lay in the Brisbane Roads, the anchorage outside the river mouth, and were served by small tenders. The larger overseas vessels did not enter the river but were served by lighters and tenders. This presented problems, as the Brisbane Roads area was an exposed anchorage and the small craft were unable to work in bad weather. As all present users of Moreton Bay will know, the sudden development of high winds and choppy seas is common in the bay. For this reason it was desirable first to make a deep cutting through the bar to permit vessels to enter and anchor in the shelter provided by the Fisher man Islands and Lytton. The original channel used was to the west of the present bar cutting, but was a sounded channel, not dredged, and subject to change, especially after floods. This difficulty with a trade which was the only means of mov ing goods and people to or from Brisbane was the cause of con siderable discussion by the settlers, and in the last few years prior to Separation in 1859, suggestions were made that a dredge should be procured to allow a channel to be dredged across the bar. Much talk ensued but no action followed. Following Separation in 1859, further moves were made, and in the Estimates for 1860, f. 10,500 was voted, as part of addit 139 ional expenditure, for the purchase of a steam dredge to be used in the harbours and rivers of the colony. The money was to be obtained as a loan from the Union Bank of Austialia, at 5 percent interest. In Parliament on 12 September 1860, Mr. G. Raff moved that an additional sum of f.5,500 be allocated to purchase a tug and punts to service the dredge. This motion was lost in a division. Two days later. Raff moved that an immediate order be sent to England for a steam dredge so that work could commence, but after debate the motion was withdrawn. Plans for the new dredge were ready in September 1860. The order for the dredge was placed with P. N. Russell and Co. of Sydney and eventually it was ready for delivery. J. Cuthbert built the hull, Russell's the machinery. The Austialian Steam Navigation Company's vessel Yarra Yarra, on the run to Brisbane, was engaged to tow the dredge and an iron punt on thefr delivery voyage. The tow slowed the ship down, and she arrived in the Bay on Tuesday 29 July 1862. The dredge and punt were left at the bar and the Yarra Yarra proceeded in, being of shallow draught and up to the town. The new dredge was named Lytton. The news of the arrival of the dredge produced comment in the newspaper The Courier. The population had waited so long for this event that The Courier suggested an excursion be arranged to the Bay for the residents to see for themselves that the dredge was not a myth. On Saturday 2 August just such an excursion was arranged. The Breadalbane paddle steamer carried passengers for a fee of 5/-, donated to a seamen's fund, and a large crowd attended. Comment was made on the unusual form of the dredge, for it was built with two hulls, joined by a false bottom, this being removed to allow the bucket ladder to be lowered and put to work. The bucket ladder was driven by an oscillating steam engine of 25 h.p., with a flywheel weighing 6 tons. The hull was built of kauri pine. After preparatory engineering work the dredge was put to cut ting the new channel on 26 August 1862. The Superintendent of the dredge was Thomas Francis, who had been associated with the dredging of the Hunter River for 3 years. The line of the pro posed channel had been set out by Lieutenant G. P. Heath, R.N., who had been appointed Marine Surveyor and later Portmaster. He had carefully inspected the bar and suggested a cut which proceeded from the inner bar in a direction a few degrees west of 140 north. This required a cut of 6000 feet but Heath considered that such a straight channel was preferable as the tides should scour it and only minor maintenance dredging would be needed. Raff's suggestion for the purchase of a tug and punts had eventually been followed. A steam tug was ordered in England, and punts were ordered to carry the dredged material, but neither tug nor punts were ready when the dredge arrived. The tug was of iron and engined by a A. & J. Inglis, but the punts were built by T. Winship at his Cleveland boatyard. While these items were being awaited, the steam tug Rainbow, owned by William Marshall, was chartered for the work. The new steam tug was named Brisbane, and it left Greenock on 17 May 1862 under sail for Sydney and then Brisbane, com manded by Captain Dring. Arriving in Sydney on 17 October, the ship was then prepared to steam up to Brisbane. On her arrival the Brisbane displaced the Rainbow as tender to the Lytton. A further three wooden punts were ordered from T. Cuthbert of Sydney. RIVAL CHANNELS Francis proceeded with the dredging, but in November sub mitted a report to the Hon. A. Macalister, Secretary for Lands and Works, stating that he had found a previously unknown channel, to the west of the one he was dredging. This channel was shorter and, he claimed, more suitable to become the main shipping channel. A letter to Francis on 5 November instructed him to proceed with the channel as buoyed by Heath, but shortly after Macalister instructed him to change over to the channel he had suggested. Heath submitted a report to the Treasurer in February of 1863 condemning this new channel as useless and insisting his plan was best. At the same time he criticised the wooden punts which had been bought. The three Brisbane built punts had proved to be useless.

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